What is a tangram?

Have you ever played with a puzzle that can turn into a crouching cat, a running person, or a tall sailing boat? Welcome to the magical world of tangrams! A tangram is a famous puzzle from China made of exactly seven pieces: five triangles, one square, and a slanted shape called a parallelogram. When an American sea captain brought these puzzles home in 1815, it started a massive craze across America and Europe. People were so obsessed that even the French Emperor Napoleon played with them while stranded on a lonely island! But here is the most amazing secret hiding inside those seven pieces: no matter what crazy shape you build, it will always cover the exact same amount of space on the table. In maths, this mind-bending trick is called "conservation of area"! Join Mira and Finn as they uncover the incredible history and hidden maths behind this shape-shifting puzzle. Grab your puzzle pieces and let's get building!